I Wanted To Like This Film More Than I Did.

Guido Contini, a famous Italian director, is struggling with his next
big film. He has no script and no inspiration, but everyone is counting
on him. He tries to juggle both his new film, his wife, his mistress,
his producer and his muse. Oh yeah, he also talks to his dead mother.

Nine is an ambitious film, I'll give it that. Rob Marshall, the
director of the Best Picture winner Chicago serves up a mix bag with
Nine. The film feels like Marshall is trying to rekindle the magic he
had with Chicago, he comes up short, specifically with the musical
numbers. For everything that I liked about it, there were two things I
didn't. Nine needs to be more focused and shorter for it to be a film I
would recommend.

The film is about film-making, yet the way Marshall presents the film
to us is in the style of a stage play. Everything from the set-pieces
to lighting screams stage play. It was an interesting touch, but felt
out of place because it dealt with the art of film-making so much. The
musical numbers, all uninspiring and rather boring, even attest to
this. With the exception of Fergie, who gives us the best song and
dance number that uses sand in a creative way, all the other numbers
are generic and rather 'not good'. When you have a Grammy winner
singing a song and then have Kate Hudson sing one, there is a
difference, and it is more noticeable than the filmmakers might have
wanted.

Nine has a great cast, most of them are Oscar winners too. Daniel Day
Lewis, with an amazing Italian accent, is the obvious stand out. He
plays sexy and stressed all in one look. Penelope Cruz is the mistress,
who has the sexiest scene of this movie, her career and this year. Her
work in this film is pretty basic, the other lover who wants to be the
one loved. With the exception of DDL, the only other actor that is
given any kind of emotional depth is Marion Cotillard. She has to go
through the realization that her husband is cheating on her and make
the choice to stay or leave. Everyone else is pretty much there to fill
up time and sing their one song. Judie Dench is the fashion designer
and she plays a motherly figure, whereas Sophia Loren plays his actual
mother, well his dead mother, but he still sees and talks to her.
Fergie has her one scene in which she steals the show with her tune and
then Nicole Kidman turns up at the end and makes you wince with her
accent. Don't get me started on Kate Hudson.

The problem is that these are good actors, with just no material to
work with. Daniel Day Lewis is great, but he's a hard character to
connect with, he's sleeping around with a lot of women, it feels like
half the cast. Emotional scenes don't play out as well as they should
and the film drags itself to the finish line near the end. I found
myself wanting it to end sooner and sooner, but it kept going.

On the plus side, the choreography is great and the cinematography
really grabs you, even if it is a little misplace with it's stage feel.
The film is well put together and the editing is well done. It weaves
it's story in and out of timelines from Guido's life, during the
musical numbers. The film isn't bad, but it didn't do anything for me
either. Leaving a musical not tapping your toes or even remembering the
tunes may be a bad sign. I liked it enough to give it a good rating,
the cast and style are good enough for me to do so, but everything else
makes me lean on the side of telling you to rent this. It's well made,
but has no real heart and the film is a little on the long side, you
may be checking your watch.

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79 out of 108 people found the following review useful:

Six

Let me say off the bat that seeing Sophia Loren and Sophia Loren
singing gave me a chill. That is quite a bit to get from a film.
Chills. I knew I had to forget this was a musical adaptation of 81/2,
but I couldn't forget the way I forgot that "Sweet Charity" was a
musical remake of "The Nights Of Cabiria". Here the score is iffy and
scarce and the story, translated into musical numbers is kind of
shallow and, quite honestly, not enough. There are, however, moments to
enjoy. The look of it is great, and Marion Cotillard makes something
enormous from the little she was given. Penelope Cruz dances an erotic
dance and Kate Hudson, well I don't quite know what she was doing.
Nicole Kidman is starting to look like a wax work, what a pity! And
Judi Dench is always fun. I was reminded she was a sublime Sally Bowles
in the first London production of "Cabaret" - Daniel Day Lewis has been
one of my favourites for a long time now but here he is far too pale,
inside and out. I want to repeat that the whole thing is worth it just
to have a glimpse of Sophia Loren singing. So, 6.

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108 out of 174 people found the following review useful:

A Hot Mess...But a Mess of Oscar-Worthy Material

I could honestly say that walking out of "Nine" I felt more conflicted
over what I thought of the movie than I have in years. The film can be
reviewed in two aspects though, its performances and its story, so I'll
dissect those.

Performances: Let me first say that no actress delivered any less than
they possibly could, and you could tell that the cast had worked their
butts off during production.

The Great- Marion Cotillard in particular delivered what is sure to be
one of the most understated performances in recent memory, as well as
delivering the two most powerful and emotional numbers in the show.
Penelope Cruz was SEXY, and as her character's story was wrapped up she
beautifully portrayed a "mistreated mistress," so to speak. Judi Dench
was fantastic as the background player in Guido's career, perfectly
delivering wit while supporting her friend. Most importantly, these
three worked so well because they were interlinked in each other's
story, and as a result their plot lines flowed well into each other.

The OK- DDL and Sophia Loren were fine in their parts, simply filling
out their roles and not seriously improving on or dragging down the
movie in any way.

The Misused- Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, and Fergie were all criminally
misused, although fantastic when on the screen. All three had stories
that didn't synch with the movie, whether they be Kidman (who honestly
needed a more fleshed out role that came in contact w/ other characters
other than just Guido), Hudson (whose number really felt like it would
have made more sense in the beginning of the movie), or Fergie ("Be
Italian" felt shoehorned in and disconnected, and would have been a
perfect opener or closing number). All three felt particularly
disconnected from the film.

I can honestly say that not one of the players in Marshall's cast
disappointed, but it was Marshall himself and the messy script (irony!)
that jumbled up the movie and left me with a very disjointed,
disconnected result. Each scene was Oscar-worthy, but they were only
partially threaded together into a cohesive story.

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112 out of 189 people found the following review useful:

What is wrong with everyone???

When I first found out that Rob Marshall was going to be making a movie
version of Nine I was very excited because I knew he would be the best
person to direct it because he could easily relate to the protagonist
with his experience as a well known director and a women enthusiast.
Also as a director he uses very creative imagery and elaborate sets to
tell the story of a very specific situation, instead of just a broad
scenario that happens everyday. I particularly love this style because
I hate stories that I've already seen and heard a million times.

Because i felt this way about it i was shocked to hear that such a
large majority of critic's thought it was so mediocre and I became
hesitant to see it in fear of disappointment.

Well, I did see it and let me tell you, there was nothing mediocre
about it. It was a phenomenal movie. The dances and songs were
beautiful, creative and very well performed. The storyline was very
fresh and it kept the viewer interested in what Guido would do next
because he was such a dynamic character. The women in his life were
perfectly cast and fantastically played, especially Marion Cotillard,
whom I had never heard of before this movie; it's fair to say she
totally rocked her role instilling in me emotions that I never even
knew I had. Penelope was ridiculously sexy yet still made the viewer
empathize with her character. Nicole Kidman was great as the
self-confident and inspiring muse. Daniel Day-Lewis was very believable
in his role as the immature child trapped inside the older man's body
named Guido, as his life spins out of control as reality finally begins
to catch up with him.

The main problem that critics had with this movie was that it wasn't
like Fredrico Fellini's 8 1/2 on which nine was based but they
shouldn't be comparing the two. This is a whole new movie and should be
viewed for what it is and to me Nine is the most entertaining movie of
the year and I am looking forward to seeing it again.

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43 out of 56 people found the following review useful:

Chicago style doesn't work for Italian style

I was surprised when Rob Marshall's Chicago took home the Oscar for
Best Picture. A great movie but not my choice for best of 2002 (that I
would award to Gangs of New York). All that aside, Marshall hasn't done
much since. Only one movie, Memoirs of a Geisha, which I for some
reason have neglected to see (I try to watch films that win for best
cinematography). That's all beside the point. In his third film,
Marshall goes back to his theatre roots and tackles another musical.

This time he has chosen Nine, a re-imagining of Federico Fellini's
classic film 8 1/2. Already I am skeptical of the situation. I am fine
with musicals. Some of the best films on celluloid have been musicals.
What I have a problem with is the reworking of such a classic film like
8 1/2. It would take a lot of convincing to win me over. Unfortunately,
it did not succeed.

Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Guido Contini, an Italian director who is
planning on making the most important Italian film ever call Italia.
The only problem is he hasn't written a script yet. To guide him he
turns to the women in his life. His late mother (Sofia Loren), his wife
Marion Cotillard, his mistress (Penelope Cruz), his costume designer
and closest friend (Judi Dench), a fashion reporter (Kate Hudson), a
childhood temptress Saraghina (Stacey "Fergie" Ferguson) and his
leading lady (Nicole Kidman).

Contini tries to escape the pressure looming overhead by the media, his
producers, and his cast and crew. He is constantly searching for the
answer, bouncing around from one person to another. That's really all
there is. He talks to people, sleeps around, and goes into his past.

Right off the bat there is a slight problem. There are too many women!
Not just for Contini but for the audience. There are too many big name
actresses with almost equal parts. Who is more important? Who should we
side with? It seems like he has such a close relationship with some of
them and hardly any with others, yet they all practically get the same
amount of screen time. They all have at least one song to their own.

That is another problem with the film. The musical aspect is
distracting from the story. The music for the most part is average. A
few songs like "Be Italian" and the Oscar nominated "Take it All" are
very good, but for the most part, it's all bells and whistles. Like he
did with Chicago, Marshall takes us from the real world of dialogue to
the imaginary world of singing and dancing. My issue with this is that
he spends an almost equal amount of time in both places. With Chicago,
there was more story divulged in the real world. Nine has too much
singing and not enough story telling.

The musical numbers are impressive, in particular the two songs I
mentioned. Fergie really flexes the golden pipes with "Be Italian," a
fun and sexy number that for me was the highlight of the film.
Cotillard's number was also one of the better ones. This was a more
emotional struggle and was one of the few numbers I felt really
connected with the story. Kidman and Cruz each have decent numbers, and
Dench's number is a bit over the top. She is better with the real world
scenes.

I guess Marshall tried to replicate what he did with Chicago but came
up short. I never was invested with any of the characters and Lewis'
performance was not quite what I was looking for. I would have loved to
have seen Raul Julia, the original Guido Contini from the first
Broadway production, or even Antonio Banderas in the revival. I think
someone with a more musical background would have been a more
acceptable choice, but nevertheless, Lewis does a fairly decent job.

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56 out of 91 people found the following review useful:

Nine is not your everyday musical

What do I know about musicals? From my limited experience of musicals,
("Singing in the Rain," "Guys and Dolls," "The Blues Brothers" {yes, it
is considered a musical comedy} and "Legally Blonde the Musical") here
is the basic linear format as I see they are written in  opening
dialogue, singing, more dialogue, more singing, even more dialogue and
then a grand finale. Then for a week after that, you have the songs
stuck in your head. Director Rob Marshall chose not to follow the old
standby format through to the end. His actions placed "Nine" in a
different category from the standard musical.

The movie focuses on Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) as a famous movie
director in Italy in 1965. He is having troubles developing his next
movie. More so, he hasn't written a script. Even more so, he is having
trouble even coming up with an idea for his movie. He had successful
movies in the years past but now we are watching him struggle after a
few major flops.

In his journey to make his next movie, he is having marital problems
along with mistress problems. Add in Freudian issues with his deceased
mother and his working relationship with his costume designer and his
muse. Don't forget to include yet another potential affair outside of
the one he is having with his mistress, plus there's the memory of an
erotic lady on a beach from his youth (that's seven women total for
those of you who are keeping score at home).

You know what is going to make this movie stand out from the crowd? It
is the realistic singing by the actors. They are actors first and
singers second (except for maybe Fergie who plays the erotic lady from
Guido's youth but she didn't say much in the film, come to think of it
I think she only sang). Since I don't know much about musicals and even
less about how to sing properly, I could grasp the singing. The tunes
they sang aren't the kind you are going to be singing on the way home
because a lot of the songs were simply narrated lines being sung. When
a character wanted to express his or her thoughts, they would sing
their lines. Maybe that's what they do in all musicals  like I said my
experience here is limited.

The women. Oh, the women. They all performed wonderfully, and I don't
just mean the singing. The female cast includes his wife (Marion
Cotillard), his mistress (Penelope Cruz), his costume designer (Judi
Dench), the woman from his childhood (Fergie), an American fashion
designer (Kate Hudson), his muse (Nicole Kidman) and his mother (Sophia
Loren). They brought emotion and life to the story through their
singing and their lustful yet sensual moves. I would also like to note,
as a guy, the women were the reason why I kept my attention focused for
almost 2 hours. I don't even watch a football game this intensely.

Should you see this movie? Yes. But, don't go in expecting a musical
you can sing along with or a movie that will leave you feeling giddy
with love. It dealt with some very real issues about infidelity. I will
say this, though, after seeing this movie I do know a little more about
musicals. And, that's a good thing.

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123 out of 225 people found the following review useful:

Another excellent adaptation from Rob Marshall

The film is beautiful, visually stunning, and exciting, and the cast is
remarkable, especially Penelope Cruz (no surprise there), Marion
Cotillard (her singing is wonderful), and the gal who blows the doors
off -- an unrecognizable (to me, anyhow) Fergie! I was watching the
credits to see who the hell played Saraghina, and was stunned to learn
it was Stacy Ferguson. Go Fergie! Judi Dench is a smash as well. Nicole
Kidman doesn't reveal anything we haven't seen before, but she does
bring the large dollop of Movie Star shine for which her role calls.
Even Kate Hudson pleases; her 60's go-go dance will inevitably bring
comparisons to her mother's "Laugh In" heyday.

Having said all that, I honestly don't know who is the audience for
this film. "Nine" was hardly the Broadway smash that "Dreamgirls", or
"Chicago" was, and the score is entirely obscure. Additionally, do most
people really care about the trials and tribulations of a
self-involved, duplicitous 1960's-era Italian filmmaker? Does it
matter? Do you have to actually like the protagonist to learn something
from his experiences? Box-office-wise, this picture is going to live or
die on the reviews, and people's interest in seeing these actresses
shine. (I read here that Renee Zellwegger was under consideration for a
role in this film... What a disaster that would have been!) And, of
course, those who like seeing Daniel Day Lewis stretch new muscles (he
chain smokes! He sings!) I enjoyed it very, very much... and now I'm
very curious to see what the world thinks of it.

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66 out of 115 people found the following review useful:

Tedious, and painful

Lots of money spent giving incredibly beautiful visuals with some
extraordinary performances by a stellar cast, in this monotonous dull
and lifeless movie. What a shame. The cast obviously poured their
hearts out, and worked their asses off. The production design and
cinematography are award worthy. The directing is absolutely
horrendous. Atrocious. Horrible. Hey Rob, where you put the camera is
really important. I couldn't see inside any of these characters! I
never felt sympathetic, empathetic, or even slightly connected to any
of these characters. Sad, cause the actors brought it. The movie never
showed it to the audience. When Guido (Daniel Day-Lewis) kneels at his
Mother's (Sophia Loren) feet and admits his faults, we see his hair
back-lit. I will bet had the camera actually looked into his eyes we
might have had something there. One hour and forty five minutes into
the movie, the conflict with the wife happened. Finally some real
drama. Had that been the first scene I might have decided to care about
this man's journey. Kate Hudson's number was the highlight of the film,
although completely disconnected from the story. But then again,
everything is disconnected. And there really is no story. And making a
film with an Italian sensibility in the English language is probably an
impossibility. Remember when they dubbed "La Vita e Bella" into
English? That, like Fellini's work was beautiful in Italian. It sucked
in English. I say, leave the making of Italian films to Italian
filmmakers. Uhhhgggg. Thanks for the free screening, But I sincerely
wish I could have those two hours back.

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101 out of 192 people found the following review useful:

The star of the show? Daniel Day-Lewis's car.

Where do I begin? I scoffed at the people leaving the cinema after only
5 minutes. "Uncultured fools", I thought. Only afterwards did I realise
that they were the lucky ones: I lost two hours of my life (and maybe
more) being exposed to this utter rubbish.

As a musical, the best parts (and I use the term "best" very loosely
here) of this film are when the cast aren't screeching out an
unmemorable number. Seriously, you won't remember any of it other than
the "Guido! Guido! Guido!" ringing in your ears.

Even having Penelope Cruz's scantily-covered crotch thrust into your
face didn't improve things. The rest of the "all star" cast doesn't
fair much better: Sophia Loren looks like an extra-terrestrial (no
doubt from having one face-stretch too many), Daniel Day-Lewis is
forgettable and is upstaged by his car (which, seriously, is the only
interesting showpiece in the entire film), Nicole Kidman does
practically nothing, Judy Dench is in her typical mother-hen role, and
Fergie (who is apparently not the ex-member of the British Royal Family
but a member of the Black Eyed Peas) I can't remember seeing. Must have
slept through her performance, but presumably it must have been better
than the rest since it didn't wake me up with its sheer awfulness.

How this film garnered no less than 5 Golden Globe nominations is a
complete mystery. Even the cast members interviewed on Larry King
looked bewildered - they must have been as surprised as I would have
been if I had seen this mess.

It's rare that I feel the need to write a review. However, in this case
I think I need to do so if only to save people from spending their
money to watch this tripe. It certainly goes on my list of all-time
worst movies that I've ever seen, along with Speed 2, and The Blair
Witch Project. Rob Marshall has a lot to answer to for this crime
against cinema - and for that matter, humanity.

I seem to not get what everyone else does

What is the point of making a film like this? A pretentious film
director is uninspired to write a decent film, and ultimately fails.

How clever and ironic that the film itself mirrors this!

In order to find inspiration, he looks to the women in his life, while
they spring into song wearing basques and corsets.

All the songs sound the same.

Nothing happens.

The end.

I'm sticking my neck out here. I'll be chastised for criticising such a
successful Broadway musical, with such a great cast. Don't get me wrong
- the 1 star for this film is solely for Day Lewis - the man can act.

It looks fairly nice as well It doesn't stop this film being pointless,
pretentious, nauseous drivel.

I can't remember any of the songs from the film, because they are
completely dull, lifeless, pointless songs.

1/10 - AVOID. (Even though you'll all disagree with me - I stand by my
opinion!)